From Jesse's post on what is a swale, to greening the deserts of Jordan, we've already seen plenty of examples of using swales—essentially large ditches dug along the contour of the land—to help harvest rainwater and prevent soil erosion. By providing a more nurturing microclimate for young trees and plants, the swale gives nature a foothold in harsher environments and then lets plants, fungi and soil microbes take over and do the work.

The care taken in the panting of each tree is no accident. Matt Kilby is the founder of Global Land Repair, a company providing supplements and hardware for tree planting that, he claims, achieves as high as a 97% survival rate in commercial timber plantations, regeneration projects and nursery environments.

Disclaimer: As one commenter noted in my post about weeds and water, we must be careful when applying techniques developed for one environment to another. Key is learning how plants, land, animals, microbes and water interact in your environment before undertaking major earth works or large-scale regenerative plantings.

The other day, I posted a video on how one Australian farmer was using weeds and water to regenerate degraded land. Perusing Permaculture TV, I came across another video from Ecofilms Australia of one Aussie farmer who